Lyrical Inspiration

Artistic inspiration for album lyrics: Wovenhand. The themes will be as in my earlier post, but they'll be wrapped in imagery of the Old West and "old time religion," ironic since the theme is against the new theology of the 1800s. As though the main character is a wanderer in the Old West who knows these new ideas (which are today's old ideas) aren't right. Alternative country lyrics put to an electromath noisecore sound. If possible.

A Cowboy Feel

This morning I added brand new lead guitar and bass parts to my evolving track. I came up with them as I went. I like them; I think they give the track a whole different personality, and of course the bass gives it more depth. I used slides and bends to give the track a cowboy feel, so probably no one will mistake this music for metal. It's definitely borne of the noise-rock genre. I still need a bass part for the middle and final sections, so that's tomorrow.

Rhythm Guitar Part Finished

I finally got a good recording of the rhythm guitar part of my new song this morning. Two of them, in fact--one for each ear with headphones. It sounds really good, and it's one of the most interesting things I've recorded. But strangely, I didn't get the usual sense of satisfaction when I played it back. Maybe it was too early in the morning (6:45), or maybe I was too hungry or lacking caffeine. It's pretty weird to play such aggressive music so early in the morning before breakfast, but that's really the only time I have to get it done.

Next steps are to add a lead guitar part (I have no idea what that will be, but I'd like it to sound like a western-style guitar somehow) and a bass part, and maybe some kind of organ part. Then I'll finally write some lyrics! Maybe when all that's done I'll feel more excited about it. Or maybe I just need to sleep on it.

Ideas for Writing Methods and a New Story

Crazy idea last night: I wonder if anyone has ever tried to write a good short story, then expanded each sentence into a paragraph? Assuming a twenty-page story, you'd end up with a whole novel. Expanding each paragraph into a chapter would give you a whole series of novels! But would they be any good? It would certainly be an interesting project. It's sort of similar to the "snowflake method" of writing a novel.

This idea was inspired by a story idea I had last night that got me excited. Well, not so much a story idea, but a character, a setting, and a few scenes. That doesn't really make a story, and probably the reason I haven't written many stories is because they don't come to me naturally. I love coming up with settings, but the stories are usually forced.

My proposed character is a Christian man, a pacifist, during the Texas Revolution in the 1830s. His grandfather was loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution, and this man just wants to be left alone with his family. But he's forced to take up arms against authorities and bandits alike. It's similar to a story I began to write a couple of years ago about a Syrian missionary in 1st-century Tibet, except this new character has a family and he's not as outgoing. There would be plenty of violence and maybe even elements of mild horror. It could even be developed as a series of stand-alone stories, like for a pulp series or comic book.

I've already thought about developing a script for a webcomic based on this idea, as my 1st-century story was meant to be. If an actual plot comes into my head, maybe I'll put my novel on hold and write a comic script or a short story.

Last week I really wanted to find a western-styled band that sang about the violent, scary stuff I see in spaghetti westerns. I found everything I was looking for in the band Ghoultown, even costumes (though I suspect they dress this way more often than not), and I got all their albums. Can't believe I never heard of them before. I've listened to about half their songs now, from their earliest album up to 2004, including this one:

Ghoultown - "Carry the Coffin" (live)

A Concept For an Album

Album concept:

Radical revivalist postmillennial viewpoints with a "Kingdom-focused" mentality. A conversation and debate with old Baptist pastors about how different our worship and living can be when we realize that Jesus has already established His Kingdom.

Some points:

• Jesus radically altered the world after His ascension, in 70 A.D., something Baptists never hear about. The works of the devil were crushed.
• When He said the kingdom was almost here, He meant it. We're living in it now, but since most of us don't realize it, the mustard tree is growing incredibly slowly.
• Political action won't further God's kingdom; it will only create more problems and make Christ less attractive. Our job is to continue to lift Him up. Show the world what sin is and who Jesus is so they will repent; don't try to make it stop sinning.
• Premillennial dispensationalism is a theology of despair because it assumes a sudden destruction of the world at any time, which gives us nothing to work toward on this earth. 
• Heaven is not our goal. When we make it our goal, our lives are worthless. The church that focuses on heaven will be the totally ineffective church. Scripture does not indicate that our goal is a place called heaven where we will live in a mansion and rest for eternity; this is certainly a misunderstanding of the text. 
• When we preach that in heaven we will be present with God and worship Him freely all the time, we imply that those things are not already true. Better to not mention heaven at all in our sermons and to teach the people that those things are already true! Stop "only imagin[ing]" being surrounded by His glory, and teach the church that everything they've heard about heaven is already true here today!
• Christ already accomplished the cleansing He prophesied, and He established His Kingdom in 70 A.D. We are living in a New Earth, and we should live a Kingdom life, thinking Kingdom thoughts. We should live like there's no more pain, no more tears, and no more dying, and our lives should smell like the Good News of Christ.
• Eternal life begins the moment a person is saved by Christ. We must begin living it now so that it will carry on after we leave this earth. Eternal life means our influence continues here on Earth after we die.
• The church will spread like wildfire when it fully realizes what Christ has already done for us, that we are His Bride now, and that Christianity will someday be the norm all over the world.
• Every person God ever wanted to save will be saved. Otherwise we couldn't call Him God.
• The Chinese church looks different from the typical Baptist church in America because they are truly grateful and really understand what Christ has done. They know His Kingdom is alive now, and they are much better ambassadors. Expect the Kingdom to spread from there much faster than from America.
• The rock that smashed the kingdoms of the world to bits is becoming a mountain, and our prayer should be that the mountain will soon cover the whole earth. Ignore all other kingdoms; they have been crushed. God will soon rid us of all authority but Himself. May His will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.

Song Idea

Song title: "My Whole World Changed When I Came Along"

Concepts:

God was working toward redemption of this messed-up world, and He finally sent Jesus. Then there was 2000 years of craziness, and then I came along. That's when my whole world changed.

I had to be born into sin to be saved from it.

Nothing about this world should be the same now that I'm here and have been saved by Christ.